Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
St. Francis of Assisi

I love this quote, I find it both reassuring and challenging.  Reassuring because we dont ALWAYS have to be under pressure by thinking of ways of telling people about what Jesus did for us on the cross.  However it is challenging at the same time because we need to be so careful to always behave in a way that brings glory to the Lord.  More and more in our society people need to see Children of God living out their faith and what they believe.  That is how we will bring hope as they see Jesus reflected in us. 

The story below “Make me like Joe” always makes me smile when I read it because here was a man, Joe, who was compassionate and changed people’s lives by just loving them .  Lets try and reflect more of God’s love through our actions and help God to bring hope to the people around us!

MAKE ME LIKE JOE

Taken from http://www.all-creatures.org/stories/makeme.html

Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at a Bowery mission. Prior to his conversion, he had gained the reputation of being a dirty wino for whom their was no hope, only a miserable existence in the ghetto. But following his conversion to a new life in Christ, everything changed. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything that he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up the vomit left by some violently sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men left the men’s room filthy, Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and seeming gratitude for the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street and into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves. One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the alter and knelt to pray, crying out to God to help him change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, “Oh God! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!” The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man “Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, ‘Make me like Jesus.’” The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, “Is he like Joe?” The greatest sermon we can ever preach, is not spoken. It is Lived! ~Author Unknown~